


The Bed's Too Big

by maujerieisalarrie



Category: One Direction
Genre: From a prompt from twitter, Kinda soft and fluffy, M/M, Prince Harry - Freeform, basically really soft and surprising, commoner louis, mention of marijuana but lightly, nothing really heavy, royal au, this is my first fic so bear with me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 01:05:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10708920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maujerieisalarrie/pseuds/maujerieisalarrie
Summary: Harry's the closeted gay prince and Louis' the commoner he's friends with benefits with. Or really, they just fuck with the occasional emotional breakdown. One night, Harry throws rocks at Louis' window and asks him a question.(From a twitter prompt: au where prince harry throws pebbles at louis' window to wake him up and sneak out with him for the night. but with a twist and like much less sexual and more soft.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii, it's mau and it's my first time writing and posting a fic on ao3. 
> 
> Title is from Joni Mitchell's My Old Man. Harry got his "we don't need no piece of paper from the city hall" tweet from this song. 
> 
> this prompt is from @/signofhs (@/analkings before) on twitter and they were so kind to let me write a fic from it. 
> 
> i'm sorry for future errors and typos, i don't have someone betaing for me. but i'd like to thank brig or larryinpink (@/heslaurel on twitter) for motivating me. luv ya bub.
> 
> here it goes, the royal au that's full of soft stuff.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

 

Louis was having the best sleep of his life. He'd just finished with university and his best mates, Liam and Niall, threw a big rager where his whole graduating batch celebrated. He danced like he was washing all of the stress of his whole university life away. That party was the biggest one he's ever gone to and it felt like it. Louis danced, drank and grinded too much. So yes, he thinks he deserves a good night sleep that should last for 12 hours maximum.

But no, the Universe doesn't think he deserves his beauty sleep as someone was throwing rocks at his window at 4 in the morning. He only went home an hour ago. Louis immediately fell on his single bed in his 2-bedroom flat he shared with his childhood friend turned best mate for life. If it wasn't for Zayn, the blue-eyed man couldn't have gone home in one piece. Louis decided that he didn't want to wake up in someone's bed or with someone in his bed. Yes, he smells like beer and other alcoholic beverages but he doesn't care at all. All he wants is sleep.

He ignores the sound of rocks hitting his window. Whoever that is probably has a criminal record for robbing people by getting them to open their windows at 4 AM.

Louis is almost getting there when the sound of rocks rushing on his window becomes more rash. Much like it's thrown with much more force than before.

And that's it. He's done. He opens the window and shouts, "Oi mate, stop the fuck now or I'm calling the cops."

The half-asleep man shuts his window with as much force as his drunk-sleepy state could allow him. But before he could go halfway through closing, breaking, his window, the person from below says something.

The man's voice sounds like smooth, flowing honey and it gives Louis more reason to sleep. However, he recognizes how familiar the man's voice is.

holy shit. He opens his window.

"Holy shit. Harry _fuckin_ Styles, what is your royal ass doing outside my house?" Louis manages to say before he stops himself because he's talking to a prince. The Prince of England, specifically. First in line for the throne and everything shmoochy filthy iconic. He tells himself to practice his mind to mouth filter one of these days.

"I meant, what are you doing at my house at 4 in the fucking morning, you _doof_?" Louis internally cusses himself. Fuck, not much better than what he said the first time. And who even says doof in this time anymore? Who even uses it?

No one could blame him though, he thinks, because he isn't getting what he wants. Sleep. Is that too much?

"Louis, have a walk with me." Harry Styles, the Queen's grandson, says using the tone he knows Louis loves. The tone he uses when he's asking Louis for a favor. The tone he uses whenever he makes Louis' body shake from multiple orgasms. But that was behind them. Harry Styles is a _closeted_ royalty because his public relations team doesn't think that 21st century millennials would accept gay royalty. It rarely happens but Louis witnessed Harry cry himself to sleep because he was tired of pretending that he was looking for princesses when all he wants is freedom.

Yes, Louis Tomlinson, a commoner, has fucked and has been fucked by gay prince Harry Styles. They're past that stage really. He likes to think that they're almost kind of friends with benefits. Not really an uncommon situation albeit a wild one. But that doesn't explain why this gorgeous, green-eyed, sexy- oops, he's going out of line. He's not really sleepy anymore and he's kind of sober now.

The thing is, he really can't resist the tone Harry used. Ok, he'll admit that it's the whole of Harry Styles he can't resist. So he tells the prince to wait for a minute or two while he brushes his teeth and exchanges his beer-stained shirt for a lilac jumper he swears is Harry's. They're not really in the exchanging of clothes stage because they're not really close when they're sober but Harry must have left it on one of the few times he's left in a hurry for a royal emergency of some kind.

When he comes down, he's met with a warm body, arms tightly snug around his waist. Harry's wearing a large gucci coat over a white jumper and casual trousers. He's sporting his favorite gucci boots that have bangles on the side, the one with a rainbow and a bee. I'm buzzin', Harry told him before. Louis feels underdressed with his jumper and skinny jeans combination even though it's Harry who's overdressed for a walk.

" _Lou_." Harry whispers on his neck. It makes the moment feel more intimate. It makes Louis' body shiver.

But intimate is never really their deal. It usually just starts with a drunk booty call or a drunk emotional snot-filled night and ends with one person leaving before the other wakes up. So this hugging and whispering intimately is new to Louis and Harry.

It feels nice though, Louis can't complain. So instead of doing that, he just hugs back softly, not wanting the taller man to feel trapped. They do that for a couple of minutes in front of Louis' flat building. While the seconds tick by, the smaller man feels how they are perfectly slotting with each other. How Harry is just the perfect height to lay his head on Louis' shoulder. They fit like puzzle pieces, and that's scaring Louis. He always had a bit of feelings for the man but he knew better than to make it grow. He can't really be involved with someone who's part of the royal family because he wants a normal, paparazzi-less life. One that isn't criticized by the public every second of the day. He knew it wasn't a good idea to be fucking royalty, a closeted one at that, so he makes up for it by forcing himself to think that they can't be more than that. So he ignored the blooming seed of feelings he has for Harry.

Right now though, Harry's watering the seed. Making Louis thirst for more intimacy. He is making it hard for Louis to bury his feelings.

"H." Louis replies just as softly. It made him think of cotton.

Softs hands started sliding down Louis' arm. Big, warm hands much like a snake made of silk, smoothly gliding down his arm and rests on his hips.

"Let's take that walk." Harry says. Harry removes his hands from Louis' hips and tucks it in the pockets of his expensive trousers. Louis does the same and they start the walk.

Louis' neighborhood is the part of town where only university students live with the occasional lone traveler or single parent of some sort. There's a park just north of the pavement they're walking and he assumes that's where they're going. He also assumes that they wouldn't really talk that much so he kept silent just like Harry.

The first time it happened, Louis was in a party in the posh side of town where everyone knows elites of all kinds go to party. It is a den for heirs and heiresses of big companies, sons and daughters of royalties and honoraries, sons and daughters of medium-sized business moguls where everything is hushed. Secrets that were opened there, stayed in the well-known club. Closet cases and affairs happened there without the public, the outside world knowing. But there will always be a leak, more of a whisper than a press release, but nonetheless a leak. So it is a wonder when Louis saw Harry Styles, Crown Prince of England, grinding up against a boy in a very non-friendly way. There were no hushed up gossips of him being gay. He was, as everyone knows publicly, as straight as they come.

That image of Harry dancing in a super sexual way had Louis wake up to what was really happening. He can't get hard right now because this walk feels like serious business. He's with the prince, taking a walk with him. It's now that he wonders what the purpose of this walk is. And that's when Harry stops, in the middle of pavement.

"Louis William Tomlinson, will you marry me?" Harry says nonchalantly, without a trace of doubt. This has Louis _choking_ on his own saliva.

"I'm sorry, what?" Louis retorts, voice still hoarse from choking.

"I didn't do it right. Okay, I'm sorry. Should've knelt in one knee, right? That's how it is? Lemme just." Harry rambles, looking and sounding less like the version of himself when he asked Louis to marry him mere seconds ago. The prince looks like he doesn't know what he'll do. But right now, he's kneeling on the ground. His overly-expensive trousers about to become dirty from the pavement.

But before that happens, Louis stops him. So Harry stands up straight, brushes his hair with his hands like he always does and looks straight at Louis, all confidence coming back. Like this, you can see how much of a royalty h is, his upbringing is shining through the crack of a door. "No. No, what I meant was, are you really asking me to marry you? Isn't that a bit strange? We were just fucking." Harry flinches at Louis' whispering the word as if it were a secret. It really is a secret though. "Are you out of your mind, Harry?" Louis spewed out. His temper isn't rising that much but enough to shout-whisper at the prince

"Louis. No, I'm not out of my mind. We were doing that but we stopped and just- I just realized that i genuinely, seriously like you. And then I realized that you like me too. I mean, you were blowing raspberries at my stomach that one time and you whispered that you had to stop liking me or else." Harry is rambling, he knows this. It's just, he really really wants what he just asked of Louis.

Louis sighs and says,"Let's keep walking, I need to clear my head a bit."

Harry sighs too. He puts his hands on his pockets and starts following Louis.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i'd like to thank myself bc i did this at 4 AM when i slept at 1 AM and finished at 6 AM

* * *

It was pure silence the whole time they walked. Louis thought that they were going to the park but right now, he can't ask Harry for directions. It feels like too much of a task to do. So Louis just stares at the sky while he continues to trek the pavement from his flat. It is a starless night- or day whichever it is. And there is a hint of daylight coming through, like hope clamoring, clawing into his soul. The lovely shades of orange would be mixing in with the blue and would create a kind of masterpiece a human could never re-create.

And really, Louis thinks, the best masterpiece one could make is love. It may seem cliche but love isn't just between two people, it can be between 3 or 4 or more. It can be love for yourself. The sky feels like love, he thinks, with its different shades and different hues.

The walk seems so silent now. The situation comes like this: a looming predator is near and there's no way the prey could escape it. It makes Louis' pulse beat faster and his stomach churn. Talking to Harry is the predator and Louis couldn't escape it. He knows he wouldn't let himself live if he doesn't find the answers to his questions. The question Harry asked was sudden and surprising. It was thrown like a bomb and it blew right up to Louis' face at 4 AM. Really, critical thinking should be done here. Matrimony is not a bomb nor an easy thing.

Silence stretches until it doesn't. It's Louis breaking it with the halting of his steps, Harry following suit.

"Even as young as you are?" Louis whispers softly under his breath. The beat of his heart starts to pick up as Harry stretches the silence again.

"I, what?" Harry finally stutters out. His heart is pounding so hard and his head is a bit light. He feels nervous.

"Uhm, would you really like to marry even as young as you are?" Louis says it clearly this time. His heart is pounding again but he's trying to breath in and out, in and out, in and out. He knows Harry's nervous too, doing the same breathing patterns as him. He finds this situation funny albeit confusing and if he weren't in it, he'll probably be laughing at himself.

"I mean, yeah, ever since I was young, all I've ever wanted was a family. A loving one. And, uhm, I mean I've got pretty much some things planned out for me, yeah? But when I was young my mum promised that the person I'll love is up to me. I'm the one who'll get to choose that. And, uhm, I'm choosing you? Uhh, rather my heart is choosing you. Too cheesy but yeah." Harry answers Louis' question with earnestly. His arms and hands flailing around with gestures as he explains it to Louis. This is the best he could do after shocking Louis. Louis' heart just melts at the royalty's statement.

He didn't really mean to do it, to shock Louis. The prince just doesn't have the time. It was one of the reasons why he came here.

"And why did you choose me? Do you really think I could do that? That I could perform the duties of a royalty? For Christ's sake, I just graduated uni and- and what would the people think of me?" Louis shakes his hand mid-air then brings the palm of his hand to his face, burying it there. It shows how frustrated and confused he is. As he thought earlier, matrimony isn't easy. Well, the process isn't difficult per se, but it needs to be with someone he loves. He shakes his head, and another, and another and one last time. Louis felt like crying.

Harry touches the blue-eyed man's left shoulder, and then the right one. He gets closer inch by inch and his warmth wraps Louis, much like the sunrise. The sun is rising around them but Louis can't really feel that, all he feels is Harry. And just like that, Louis' frustration melts into something positive.

Now, Harry's hugging him and the warmth feels familiar. There's a sense of familiarity and connection when Harry rested his head softly on Louis' head and when Louis buried his head on Harry's shoulder. It feels like coming home. It feels like a wrecked ship, finally decking on the dock after months and months-or years, even- of following it's compass after it was lost in the ocean. The ship's now anchored along with the rope. It is the feeling of finding a mate for life like a sparrow does, and Louis thinks, "birds don't have eyebrows" as he imagines and chuckles internally. The familiarity is a dagger piercing through a rose but doing no damage to it at all. It felt confusing and now there's just the feeling of familiarity and warmth.

Louis always believed in love even after his biological and adoptive dad left him. Even after his mother, who only did good things, died. He learned that this is the way of love. Love surprises you either in the negative or positive way. Love is really surprising. And that calmed his heart and stomach a bit. Love is surprising and there's nothing he could do but think.

It hits him right there and then with the feeling of an arrow piercing his heart. What Harry did made him realize that he loves the prince too. He just kept it inside his heart and never let it be known. But long before this night, the seed had already bloomed into a beautiful rose. Louis only managed to keep it inside for long. But now, now that he knows Harry loves him, he could finally let it grow more. It would feel like watering it and giving it sunlight.

Louis remembers the time Harry pointed earlier, when he blew raspberries on his stomach and persuaded himself to keep all of his feelings. It's just now that he sees clearly how much they bonded, how much he knew of Harry. He knows the things the tabloids have said, Harry's favorite movie, his favorite color, his favorite dessert. But Louis remembers that one time he picked up a tabloid on the way home and there on the front is the question "What is Harry Styles' favorite ride in the amusement park?" He asked Harry this question and he answered "It was you, Lou" despite the fact that they haven't really gone to the park together. That night, Harry rode him with much enthusiasm.

Louis also reminds himself of that time Harry didn't leave like he does in the mornings before Louis wakes up. And Louis choked on his saliva as he sees Harry and Zayn really getting along while eating breakfast at the table. Harry looked up at Louis with bright eyes and a fond smile and asked,"Where do you wanna sit?" And Louis remembers answering, "next to you."

He knows Harry Styles, he knows his inhibitions and his dreams. He knows how much Harry loves eggs and bananas than he lets on. He knows that Harry traces the sparse of his back and the outlines of his tattoos. He knows Harry Styles like the back of his hand.

And right now he's certain that he loves this green-eyed man, royalty and all. He's accepting this fact now. So he let goes of the hug, scolding himself for doing that because he's missing the warmth of Harry's body. Or the way their bodies feel like they were meant to be together, fitting like puzzle pieces. But he needs to do this.

Harry looks kind of terrified and Louis chuckles at him. At that, Harry's shoulders ceased from tensing and his smile went from crooked to bright. All the tension was gone and they both feel giddy. It was like Harry knew what Louis' answer is.

"Do you really trust me that much?" Louis says with less tension and more fond in his voice. Harry just nods and smiles at Louis the same way he did at breakfast with Zayn. And Louis feels himself smiling the same way. He doesn't care if people are starting to mill around, although he should because Harry's not out yet. So with cautious steps, he holds the prince's hand, slides them together like a tight-fitting dress.

He says ever so slowly, "Yes."

And if it was possible, Harry's smile becomes brighter and more fond, Louis' own mirroring that of the prince's. He knows what that yes means and what it corresponds to. Their bodies aligned and their hands untied, they start the walk back to Louis' flat. Louis knows Harry isn't out yet but it felt like an unspoken thing that Harry is already planning it. So they settle for just friends right now, not soon-to-be married lovers, and let their hands drift from each other every second. Each other's warmth is enough for now.

Louis didn't get his well-deserved sleep but he thanks the Universe for that. He knows it's going to be a good day. After all, he's getting married to a prince. To top it all, this prince will always be in his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALWAYS IN MY HEART, HARRY STYLES. YOURS SINCERELY, LOUIS TOMLINSON
> 
> wedding's next chapter


End file.
